God's New Thing

Latimore, Kelly. La presentación de Cristo en el templo, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57113 [retrieved January 31, 2020]. Original source: https://kellylatimoreicons.com/contact/.

This weekend we will observe the festival of the Presentation of our Lord. This is one of those special days of the church year that we only celebrate when the festival day falls on a Sunday.

The Presentation of our Lord takes us back to the early months after Jesus’ birth when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to God. According to the book of Exodus, every first born human and animal was to be set apart for God. (You can read all about it in Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16.) Having given birth to their first born male child, Mary and Joseph knew this law applied to Jesus and they followed it. While Mary and Joseph went to the temple to do what all first born parents of male children did, they left the temple amazed about what was said about their son.

At the temple they met Simeon, who proclamation that Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel.” Simeon recognized Jesus as the light of the whole world. He was and is God’s revelation for all people. Because of Simeon’s proclamation, in some places this festival is referred to as “Candlemas” and is a time to bless all of the candles that are to be used during worship in the coming year. 

Mary and Joseph also encountered a prophet named Anna. She, too, recognized that God was doing a new thing in Jesus’ birth, bringing light and hope into the world.

You hear me often preach, “God is not yet done with us or our world.” God continues to be doing new things in our midst, bringing light and hope into the world. The Holy Spirit, the breath of God, continues to stir among us at Abiding Presence and throughout the world to reveal the glory of God in Christ. In the midst of a world that often seems a mess, the fact that God is not yet done with us and is still doing new things is central to my faith.   

This weekend we will officially welcome our newest staff members. Pastor Joe Vought will be installed as our Teaching Pastor and Sarah Snow will be installed as our Congregational Care Minister. After a year of many transitions, I’m excited to settle in with our new staff team and get to work.

I’ve learned, however, that God rarely calls us to just settle in and get comfortable. So, let us keep anticipating and keeping our eyes open for the next new thing that God will do. Our new staff team and I will be watching, waiting and preparing. We hope that you will be, too!